Vampire's Guide to a Successful Town!

This is a guide for all players that are looking to start a town successfully and goes through the processes of buying a town, all the way to adding residents and expanding your city!

-=+ Contents +=-​

Buying your Town

Creating a town yourself.

Buying a town from others.

Depositing money into the town bank.

Constructing your Town

Adding assistants.

Claiming land.

Building your spawn.

Layout of roads.

Town facilities.

Residential plots.

Adding Residents

Towny upkeep.

Information on taxes,

Making money.

Adding residents.

Advertising your town.

Maintaining and Scrutinizing your Town

Improving town facilities.

Player friendliness.

Scrutinizing your staff team.

Asking for advice.

Conclusion

Errors.

Where to go for more info.

-=+ Buying your Town +=-​

The obvious way to buy a town would be with /t new [town name], which costs 200k. For this method, I would recommend having an extra 50k-200k that can be immediately deposited into the town bank, depending on what type of town you are planning to make. When using the /t new command, simply go to /warp alpha or /warp beta, type /random to take you to a random area (you can keep typing /random until you get a spot that you like), and use the /t new command. This will create a new town with you as the mayor and claim a 1 plot area around you, with the town's spawn set where you are standing.

The second method to buying a town, which is my favourite, is to buy from other players. Now when I say this, I don't mean to buy a huge metropolis with 50 players, no. I mean that you could buy a small, 5 resident, 10 plot town that the mayor is willing to sell for much less that 200k. Usually about 100k. Now a common misconception with this method is that you unclaim all the town's land and start over. It is actually illegal to unclaim plots without giving all residents a one week warning, and even so, it's still unfair, as the residents will be losing their plots. The way that I recommend tackling this method is buy claiming an outpost where you want to build your town, with the command /t claim outpost (costs 5k, compared to 1k for a normal plot), and build your town there. Then once you have built up your town at the outpost (see next section), use the command /t set homeblock and then /t set spawn to set your town's spawn there and either switch the original town to an outpost, or offer the residents plots in the new town and unclaim the old town when they are satisfied with their new houses.

Once you have bought your town, you will need to deposit some money into the bank to make sure that your town does not fall. I recommend immediately depositing a bare minimum of 50k, but I myself would deposit about 100k-150k. The command used to deposit money is /t deposit [$$$] and the command used to withdraw money is /t withdraw [$$$].

-=+ Constructing your Town +=-​

Once you have bought a town and claimed some land, you will want to start building your spawn. This is the time when you will want to decide what type of town you want to create. What theme you want, what layout you will have with roads, plots, facilities, etc. It all starts with the spawn.

Now before you start your spawn, you will need some assistants or co-mayors to help you! To find people willing to help, I recommend starting a forums post ( http://meepcraft.com/forums/towns.12/ )where those who are interested can file an application, or asking in shout chat (/g [message] ) if anyone would like to help you. Beware, however, that assistants and co-mayors CAN place and break blocks and open chests on ANY plots, which means that they can grief and steal items. Co-mayors and also withdraw money from the town bank, so make sure that you give these ranks to only the very trusted. If, however, an assistant or co-mayor does try to grief, steal or withdraw money, you can report it to a mod with /modreq [message], or file a report a player thread on the forums ( http://meepcraft.com/forums/report-a-player.9/ ). To promote someone in your town, use the command /t rank add [name] [rank].

Once you have a good town staff team, you can finally start building your spawn. To claim some land for your spawn, use the command /t claim, while standing on the plot that you want to claim. Note that this costs 1k and the money will be withdrawn from your town bank. You need to keep track of the amount of plots that you have claimed very closely, as for every plot your claim, your upkeep will increase by 65 meebles, but I will get into supporting your town's upkeep later.

There are two methods of building your spawn. The first if for those who don't believe that they are capable of constructing their spawn. If this is you, you can contact a builder, but make sure that you explain your build to them so that they understand what you want, and also ask for previous builds that they have done so that you know that they are capable of building your spawn. You also have to keep in mind how much this builder will cost, as you don't want to bankrupt your town before you add any residents!

The second way is just doing it yourself. Here are some things to keep in mind if using this method:
- Your spawn must somewhere state your town rules. If you have trouble coming up with town rules, look at some other towns for inspiration.
- Your town taxes must also be stated somewhere in your spawn, preferably next to your rules. (I will go into taxes some more later).
- It is a good idea to state your town staff members somewhere in your spawn, most times this is done with a head board, but you can do whatever you want!
- You will want to make your spawn very big and easy to spot, so that it can be used as a landmark if any of your future residents get lost.
- For more ideas and inspiration for your spawn, look at other towns and see what they have done! But remember don't copy them block-for-block, as originality is key for success!

Once you have finished your spawn, the next thing that I would do is work on is your roads and plots. A really good tip for towns is to no make it a grid of plots! Real cities are not grids so why should yours be? Make some roads that are one plot wide and make them look nice (Look at other towns or to the internet for inspiration). You are still allowed to make small, two block wide paths in-between plots, but I would make sure that around 50% of plots are facing a road that is 1 plot wide. With one plot roads, you can even name your streets with the command /plot set name [name], to make for a realistic effect. You could even go so far, as to give your residents their own addresses!

Next, you will want to establish a 'main road' in your town. This road will be directly outside of your spawn and will have all of your town's facilities. Some facilities that I would recommend for a growing town is a shop, a grinder (an Elite+ is needed for this), an arena and a public farm. Later on, you can get into more complicated facilities, but for now this list should be good enough.

Once you have made all of your town's facilities, you need to start making some residential plots. Plots claimed are 16 blocks x 16 blocks. If you are making a two block path in between your plots, I would recommend making your plots border one block in from the 16x16 limit, making the area available to the resident 14 blocks x 14 blocks. If you are making plot-wide roads, then you should make your plot border on the very edge of the plot, making the area available to the resident, 15 blocks x 15 blocks.

-=+ Adding Residents +=-​

Once you believe that you have enough residential plots made (I would recommend about 10-20), your spawn is finished and you have made some town facilities, it is time to start adding some residents to your town. But before you add people, you will need to make a very important decision about your town. Whether you will have taxes and what they will be. The purpose of taxes is to support the town upkeep, which increases by 65 meebles every time that you claim a plot. So this decision is basically whether you will get the money to support your town's upkeep from your residents, or by other means. I will start by talking about getting the money via taxes.

In towny, there are four types of taxes: Resident Tax, Plot Tax, Shop Tax and Embassy Tax. Resident tax applies to every resident, excluding town vips, recruiters, builders, assistants, co-mayors and the mayor. Plot tax applies to every resident that owns a normal type plot (not shop, embassy, etc.), excluding the ranks listed above. Shop tax applies to every resident that owns a shop type plot, excluding the ranks listed above. Finally, embassy tax applies to all players that own an embassy type plot, excluding the ranks listed above that are from the town in which the embassy is owned/claimed (I will get into embassies later). Some important things to know about the plot type taxes (plot, shop and embassy), is that they apply for every plot you claim. For example: If I were to claim one plot in a town that had a 50 meeble plot tax, I would be charged 50 meebles daily. If, however, in the same town, I were to have claimed two plots, I would be charged 100 meebles daily (same applies for shop and embassy tax).

Some taxes that I would recommend as a standard for a grid-based town would be to have a plot tax of 75 and a low resident tax. For a plot-road based town, I would recommend a 100 plot tax and a 25 resident tax. Please note that if you are changing your tax, you must give all residents a sufficient warning of one week by using the town message board: /t set board [EXAMPLE: Our resident tax will be changed from $50 to $75 on the 18th August, 2015.]

If however you choose to financially support your town through other means, I would recommend voting daily for a 6k voting prize ( http://meepcraft.com/pages/vote/ ) (/vote), or to come to my pwarp (/pwarp Earn$) for some player friendly ways to earn some quick cash. If you still need help with making money, I would suggest looking at some guides on the forums ( http://meepcraft.com/forums/unofficial-guides.36/ ).

Now it is finally time to add residents to your town! To add someone, use the command /t add [name]. Once a resident is added, you can then show them to a plot. To put a plot up for sale, use the command /plot fs [$$$], while standing on the plot and then tell the resident to type /plot claim to claim the plot. Please try to be patient and kind to all your residents as this will create a bond between you and your residents and some of them may be newer to this server and need a little help.

If you are having trouble finding residents to add, advertise your town in global chat (/g [message]) or on the forums ( http://meepcraft.com/forums/towns.12/ ) to attract more attention. If you want to add someone as a recruiter, use the command /t rank add [name] recruiter. Note that this will give them permission to use the command /t add, and it will make them exempt from ALL town taxes.

-=+ Maintaining and Scrutinizing your Town +=-​

Once you have added a fair amount of residents and filled up most of your original plots, now is the time to look back at what you have done so far with your town, and look at what was done well and what could be improved. Look at your town from a resident's point of view. Would they be satisfied with your facilities? Would they think that your buildings looked nice? This section will go through these questions and give advice on how to tackle them.

So first off, I will start with how to improve your town's facilities. Now looking at your facilities from a resident or potential resident's point of view, what do you think of your facilities? As an example, say you had a skeleton grinder that you spent a lot of money on and worked quite hard on. Now ask yourself, would this grinder satisfy my residents? Now don't be stubborn and say yes just because you worked very hard on it and are very proud of it. You need to be true to yourself, and if your grinder isn't satisfying your residents, you need to think how you can fix it. How can you give your grinder an edge that will make it better than all the leading pwarp grinders? This applies to all facilities too. You need to be creative and ask yourself how you can give your facilities and edge that will stop your residents from going to the leading pwarps and instead realize that your facilities are better

Next, you want to look at the player friendliness of your town. Are your rules easy to understand? Can a resident easily find their plot? Are you as a resident's mayor and important meepcraft figure ensuring that they are having an enjoyable experience not only in your town but on the entire server? Some easy ways to fix all of these problems is to treat all of your residents like ten year olds that don't know a thing about minecraft, let alone meepcraft. When writing your town rules, explain everything, when giving a resident their plot, tell them every command in detail. Don't just say 'build your house,' say 'you can gather materials at /warp wild to build your house with.' This will ensure that all your residents are happy and don't feel as though you don't care about them.

You will also want to look at your town staff team (assistants & co-mayors). Are they devoted to this town? Is the only reason that you haven't demoted them from co-mayor because they are an Ultimate rank and built a tiny zombie grinder for you? If you feel that an assistant isn't up to scratch, tell them to lift their game or you'll have to demote them. If you feel as if an assistant hasn't been contributing to the town at all, don't be afraid to demote them. You must constantly scrutinize your staff team and yourself to ensure the best possible experience for your residents.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help with how you can improve your town, or just asking for someone''s opinion on a change that you have made. Just ask one of your residents what they like about your town and what could be improved. Maybe ask a more experienced towny player for their input. Every piece of advice will help your town become more successful!

-=+ Conclusion +=-​

Thank you for reading my guide to starting, maintaining and improving your town! This guide was made by Vampire_Man_32, was made on the 10th July, 2015 and was last edited 10th July 2015.

As all of the commands and information on the towny rules in this guide were from memory, some may be incorrect, and if you happen to find any incorrect information, please comment it down below and I will fix it ASAP.